Encyclopedia of

Cryonic Suspension

James H. Bedford is the first person known to have been placed in a state
of cryonic suspension under controlled conditions. This event occurred in
1967
after a physician certified his death. Decades later his body remains in
a hypothermic (supercooled) condition within a liquid nitrogen cylinder.
Decades from now, perhaps he will be the first person to be resuscitated
after this episode of biostasis, or what earlier generations called
suspended animation. This hope is what led Bedford to arrange for cryonic
suspension as an alternative to cremation and burial.

Why Cryonic Suspension?

Through the centuries some people have accepted the inevitability of death
while others have devoted themselves to finding ways of prolonging life
or, even better, living forever. These efforts have included bizarre and
dangerous practices compounded of superstition and magic, but also
increasingly effective public health measures that have resulted in a
significant increase in life expectancy throughout much of the world. The
cryonics approach is intended to take another step. It asks the question:
Because biomedical science has already accomplished so much, why should
humankind assume that people still have to die and stay dead?

The case for cryonics made its public debut with Robert C. W.
Ettinger's best-selling book,
The Prospect of Immortality
(1966). He notes that in the past many people have died of disorders and
diseases that have since become treatable. Medical advances are
continuing, which means that people are still being buried or cremated
even though their present fatal condition will eventually be healed.
People should therefore give themselves the chance for a renewed and
healthy life. This can be accomplished by immediately taking measures to
preserve the "dead" body until such time as a curative
procedure has been devised. The body would then be resuscitated from its
state of suspended animation and the restorative procedure would be
applied. From Ettinger's perspective, it is better to be alive than
dead and human beings have the right to self-preservation. Furthermore,
because so many gains have already been made in extending human life, it
would be foolish to stop.

The Process of Cryonic Suspension

How it is done has changed somewhat in detail over the years, but still
requires the following basic elements:

An adult who has consented to the procedure.

Financial provision for the services to be performed.

A physician and hospital willing to allow the procedure to be done.

Prompt certification of death (to limit postmortem deterioration).

Injection of cryoprotective fluid (composed of liquid nitrogen) to
replace water and other body fluids. This fluid is disseminated
throughout the body with a heart-lung pump. Technicians continue to
monitor temperature and other signs.

Bathing in a deep cooling bath until the desired temperature (about
–79 ° centigrade) is reached.

Placement inside a sealed bag that is then immersed in a storage vessel
filled with liquid nitrogen. The supercooled temperature is maintained
indefinitely.

A cure for the individual's once-fatal disease or condition is
discovered by medical science.

The body is removed from storage and carefully warmed.

The condition that had resulted in the person's
"death" is healed and life begins anew.

Critical Response

Many criticisms have been made regarding the process of cryonic
suspension. There is no dispute about the general proposition that
refrigeration and freezing can preserve organic materials. A variety of
industrial, research, and medical procedures rely upon this phenomenon.
There has been some success in thawing out tissues and organs from liquid
nitrogen storage. All of this, though, is a long way from resuscitating a
person and, especially, the complex and fragile human brain upon which
memory and personality appear to depend. The engineering and biomedical
sciences have not come close enough to inspire confidence that such a feat
could be accomplished at any foreseeable point in the future.

In addition to the limited state of success, other significant criticisms
include: (1) Much tissue loss and damage occur whenever there are
deviations from the ideal situation; for example, certification

Doctors prepare a patient for cryonic suspension. As of 2001, an
estimated ninety people have been placed in cryonic storage.

AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS

of death is delayed; medical or other authorities prove uncooperative;
equipment or human failure is involved in carrying out the first crucial
procedures; (2) ice formation will damage cells and tissues despite
protective efforts; and (3) additional extensive damage will occur during
the attempted resuscitation process. Many neuroscientists doubt that an
intact and functional human brain can survive both the freezing and the
rewarming processes, even if the neural structures had not suffered
irreversible damage at the time of death.

The reasons for cryonic suspension have been criticized on moral and
practical grounds. Some hold that it is immoral to defy God's will
by reaching back over the life/death border. Others focus on the prospect
of cryonics becoming one more elitist advantage. While some people barely
have the necessities for a hard life, others would enjoy the unfair
opportunity to play another round. A related criticism is that an already
overcrowded world would be subject to an increased growth in population.
Additional misgivings are expressed by questions such as:

What will happen to marriage, remarriage, and family structure in
general if the dead are not necessarily dead? How will people be able to
go on with their lives?

How could loved ones complete—or even begin—their recovery
from grief and mourning?

What formidable problems in adjustment would occur when a "Rip
Van Winkle on Ice" returns after many years to a changed society?

Will people become less motivated and more careless with their
"first lives" if they expect to have encore appearances?

Conclusions

As of 2001, there have been no known attempts at resuscitation because
cryonicists judge that the technology has not yet been perfected. Since
the 1980s there has been a trend to preserve only the head. The theory
behind these "neuro" preparations is that (a) this form of
storage is less expensive and (b) science will eventually make it possible
to grow a new body from DNA. More conservative cryonicists, however,
continue to favor the whole-body approach. Even more recently
there have been announcements that future efforts will switch from
cryonic storage to vitrification—converting body tissue to a
glasslike stone material. Advocates (including at least one cryonic
suspension organization) believe vitrification would avoid the tissue
damage associated with freezing and resuscitation. There are no known
previous examples of vitrification having been applied above the level of
isolated tissues and organs.

Along with the big question—Could cryonic suspension ever
work?—there is also the unanswered question: Why in
America's high technology society have the cryonic storage vessels
received fewer than a hundred people since 1967? At present, cryonic
suspension remains a controversial and seldom end-of-life option. Future
prospects are difficult to predict.